The present invention relates to a system converting seats into couches, in particular for sleeping, said system being particularly appropriate for long-distance passenger transportation in aircraft, trains, buses, ships of spacecraft. The invention also relates to a seat designed to be operational in such a system and to a passenger transport so equipped.
Proposals already have been made that are state of the art and aim at converting seats into couches. In particular two techniques are well known.
As regards the first technique, the seat parts such as the seat proper, hereafter the base, and the backrest, are disengaged from a frame and are bent in a manner to be substantially aligned within a plane when being mounted manually on another frame to form a couch. This state of the art cannot readily be used in practice when such a seat includes convenience features such as adjustable slopes of its various parts and in particular when its hinges are motor- or jack-driven.
As regards the second technique, it exploits the feature that the seat already is hinging and is motor or jack driven to extend it into a couch. However the conversion into couches with such driven seats is restricted, especially when an occupancy rate per unit volume is desired which is substantially the same whether the passengers be upright or prone.
As a result economic seat conversion nowadays is carried out manually while poorly meeting modern passenger comfort requirements both in the seat""s upright and prone positions and advanced seat conversion is reserved to high-end seats and to a few places in the transport, in particular as regards aircraft.
The present invention remedies this state of the art: The present invention relates to a system converting seats into couches and in particular being characterized in that, at least for one set of seats, each seat shall comprise at least one base and one backrest which are connected in a way allowing using the seat in the upright sitting position, the base and the backrest subtending a first relative angular position, or using the seat as a couch, the base and the backrest subtending a second relative angular position, and further comprising
a support for said seats,
a conversion mechanism driving the linkages of each seat to convert it into a couch whereby at least two spatially consecutive seats of said set of seats shall be moved from their seating mode, one behind the other, into the couch mode one above the other.
In another object of the present invention, the said converting mechanism comprises at least one motor or jack driven by a control unit.
In another objective of the present invention, at least one part of each seat is fitted with linkages to housings or fasteners solidly affixed to the converting mechanism.
In still another object of the present invention, the converting mechanism comprises a rigid parallelogram for each seat of a set of seats and mounted on two stationary points affixed to a support or bulkhead, comprising a drive component connected to one of the stationary points and further at least one first lever of the said parallelogram of which one end is affixed to a seat part and the other end hinges about another stationary point, a second parallelogram being connected between the other stationary point and another seat part.
In another objective of the present invention, the rigid parallelograms of two consecutive seats are mutually symmetrical and are linked at appropriate points of their first levers by a connecting lever whereby a single drive component is configured jointly for said two consecutive seats and in such a way that during conversion the leading seat ascends whereas the trailing seat descends for their conversion into couches.
In another objective of the present invention, the converting mechanism cooperates with an attitude-changing mechanism of the seat, for instance changing a seat in the seating mode into a user relaxation mode, said mechanism comprising at least one drive component connected between a stationary point and a seat part, the seat attitude-changing mechanism comprising a lever hinging on another lever so as to be connected to the conversion mechanism.
In another objective of the invention, and with respect to two consecutive seats, the converting mechanism comprises a rigid parallelogram constituted by at least one stationary point and two levers hinging about said stationary point and of which the ends hinge in two distinct parts of a first seat, one point of one of the two parallelogram levers being fitted with a hinge on the end of a drive component of which the other end is firmly affixed to a second stationary point, the first stationary point bearing a shaft imparting rotation to at least one gear to transmit the converting motion, applied by the drive component, by means of a gear rack on which a part of the second seat is constrained to move.
In another objective of the present invention, the converting mechanism cooperates with a support or bulkhead and with means integrating the transfer mechanism and means protecting the passengers or users of the seats from the motions of the transfer mechanism of a set of seats.
In another objective of the present invention, the converting system for each seat comprises a stationary frame and a plurality of displaceable frames, further drive components to drive said frames relative to the fixed one, each part of each seat being associated with a displaceable frame in such a way that in a first mode, the seat parts are in a seating mode and in a second mode the seat parts are in a couch mode.
In another object of the present invention, at least one displaceable frame slides in a slide of the stationary frame along a predetermined path whereby the leading seat ascends to assume the upper couch mode and the trailing seat descends into the couch mode, this conversion motion being reversible.
In another object of the present invention, the stationary frame of a leading seat bears at least one stop to support the end of the legs or of the end of a seat in the functional upper couch mode and/or a tipping cam acting on the displaceable frame of a part of a seat that shall move into the upper couch mode, as a result of which a sequence of upper couches arrayed in a column shall constitute a rigid structure.
In another object of the present invention, the converting mechanism comprises at least one drive component actuated by a control unit and driving the displaceable frames of at least one seat relative to its stationary frames.
In another objective of the present invention, each stationary frame is firmly affixed to a stationary part, such as a leg of a seat, in the passenger space.
In another objective of the present invention, the seat of the invention comprises at least two parts each consisting of a support structure and of at least one cushion adapted to the user""s body, said structure bearing at least one linkage to another seat part.
In another objective of the present invention, linkages for several seat parts cooperate with locking means in a seating mode and/or in a couch mode and/or in a reference state wherein the seat is mounted on the associated conversion mechanism.
In another objective of the invention, the seat comprises at least a foot-guard serving in particular to protect the head of the passenger in the leading seat converted into couch from the feet of the passenger in the trailing seat converted into a same-level couch.
In another objective of the present invention, the connection means is fitted with a motor or jack actuated by a control unit.
In another objective of the present invention, the connection means is linked by a displacement transmission to the conversion mechanism with which the seat is associated.
In another objective of the present invention, the transport, in particular for passengers, is fitted with seats and with at least one conversion means as claimed in one of the above claims.
In another objective of the present invention, the transport comprises at least one compartment fitted with at least one conversion means and with a column of associated seats and at least one of said areas may include at least one displaceable partition to accommodate the volume corresponding to said area when the conversion means is driven by its control unit.